What new digital marketing trends await us in 2020? It's a start of a new decade and the internet is pulsing with new content. Last year marked the inevitable continuation of content marketing as one of the biggest trends in digital marketing to date. We see glimpses of new trends entering and making headway in the digital world, but what can we expect from this new, almost sci-fi looking decade? Here are the trends that are shaping digital marketing in 2020.
The AI Implication
AI is a huge conversation topic, be it in the news, in podcasts, technology and so on. But AI is a huge conversation topic in digital marketing as well. There are a lot of areas in digital marketing which AI affects, and we can start to look at it as an integral part of digital marketing in 2020. and beyond.
Chatbots
One of the first trends that are starting to evolve thanks to the integration of AI are chatbots. Now don't get me wrong, chatbots aren't something that just came along in 2020. they've existed for a long time now. But the key thing is that they are evolving and are becoming big selling points. Thanks to the improvement of AI and digital marketing itself, chatbots are becoming integral parts of the digital world. Chatbots today are very personalized, spontaneous and effective, some studies say that 2 in 3 people won't even notice that they are talking to a chatbot.
Variety of companies started using chatbots in very interesting and effective ways. Mastercard has a feature which lets you talk to a chatbot and ask all sorts of questions regarding your account. In a conversational way you can access your balance info, expenditure and best deals around you. Now beside digital marketing, chatbots pose a big change for customer service as well. It is believed that chatbots will replace 85% of the customer service sector in 2020. All big companies are looking to invest into this quickly developing area. Samsung just introduced Samsung Neon, an artificially intelligent digital avatar which is meant to mimic human appearance and emotion. Neon also has the ability to learn and remember and is thought of as an companion AI.
To entangle the entire chatbot implication would involve lots of different studies in various fields. Majority of people prefer talking to chatbots, not because they hate the workers in the customer service industry but because chatbots are faster. Chatbots answer more promptly, they have the entirety of your consumer history, and they have more patience.
Voice Assistants
AI gave birth to voice assistants as well. Alexa, Cortana and so on are beasts in itself and they're effect on digital marketing is sure to be extraordinary. One of the first things that changed with the use of voice assistants is website traffic. It's in the very nature of voice assistants to scour the vastness of internet information and bring you snippets answering your question to a satisfying degree. This means there will be less internet traffic and scroll times on websites will be drastically lowered. By various calculations 50% of all internet searches will be conducted by voice commands and voice shopping is to jump from $2 billion today to $40 billion by 2022.
Chatbots and voice assistants are telling us something, something which seems to be quite obvious but also difficult to pinpoint exactly. By these indications people want to converse, be it by voice or by typing. Just as long we have a conversation with something. That might be just what these new trends are showing us. It is the birth of conversational marketing.
Ok, so we want to have conversations but what changed? Chatbots aren't something new that just came along, they were here a long time ago. What changed is the personalisation side of it. They are a lot more tailored today to fit the person they are engaging, not just the person but the topic on which they are currently focused.
Personalisation
Personalisation is also a big trend that could shape the future of digital marketing. We see it everywhere, most noticeably on Netflix. Personally tailored recommendations for TV shows, movies and so on.
When we're talking about personalisation we need to include emails. Personalized emails are pretty big right now especially if they bring meaningful content. What we see more and more in digital marketing is the need to push products and focus only on conversions. Conversions will come, it's important to keep in mind what we are dealing with here. Most of us work with brands, brands need a story, a connection, an added value that resonates with consumers. With all that in mind, take another look at personalized emails. If we add real personalisation and value to emails they will ultimately add value to the brand itself.
Micro moments
This was a huge revelation for me because I instantly understood what micro moments meant. Try to think of a time when you were just completely frustrated by something, lets say a home appliance. You had it for a good number of years now and it did its job. But as time went on it became more and more frustrating to use. Little things here and there which just made it so difficult and had your forehead pulsing with anger. Just as you are using the said appliance a break happens. A moment in which you just had enough, no matter the money, the time or anything else you've had enough. As of right now you are in the market for a new appliance, and you want it now.
This my friends is THE Micro Moment. A moment in which you disregard everything and just want to buy something. For us marketers this is the crucial moment, it is imperative that we identify those „I want to buy“ moments, be there in those moments and make it easy for customers to make a purchase.